FR2501012A1 - Packaged installation to produce cereal based animal feed - has weighing, milling, mixing and bag filling machines on common base frame - Google Patents

Abstract

The installation is constructed on a transportable base frame and comprises, in combined sequence, the following units:- (a) weighing/dosing equipment for cereals minerals etc., (b) a grinding mill, e.g. a hammer mill; (c) a mixing machine;.

Description

 The present invention relates to the production of compound feed for animals and more particularly to a machine for making such feed.

 Currently, these foods are manufactured by means of industrial production units in which the basic products are weighed, dosed, possibly crushed, mixed and bagged.

Although these units are robust, reliable, efficient and of high efficiency, they nevertheless require considerable masonry work for their installation in situ as well as the intervention of very specialized tradesmen.

The machine, object of the present invention, overcomes these drawbacks. Indeed, it consists of a compact unit comprising a chassis on which are mounted in combination,
- a weighing-dosing station,
- a grinder,
- a mixer,
- and a bagging station.

 The different components of this machine are identical to those used in a conventional industrial production unit, except the fact that they are assembled, wired, and mounted on a chassis in the workshop so that the assembly is delivered on site, ready to take office. This machine also offers a very small footprint, useful for its transport, thanks to the judicious arrangements of its various components.

 A first arrangement consists in ensuring a selective distribution of food products between the grinder and the mixer by arranging a two-way distributor on the outlet of the weighing-dosing station. A bucket elevator then allows the products treated by the weighing station to be led to the entrance to the above-mentioned distributor.

 Another arrangement consists in connecting the bagging station to the outlet of the mixer by means of a recovery elevator.

 Another arrangement consists in directing, by means of a pneumatic circuit, the products leaving the mill towards a hopper awaiting on the mixer.

 These various arrangements allow the same machine to carry out the following operations: - weighing and classifying the different products by the same station, - directing, with the distributor, certain products towards the mixer and others towards the grinder, - d 'routing the ground products to the mixer, - and bagging the products resulting from the mixture, called in the context of the invention, compound feed.

 According to a particularly advantageous characteristic of the invention, the operation of this machine is automated by means of a programmed central unit, according to information received in particular by capacitive probes placed in the various hoppers, to trigger the selective commissioning of the various organs.

 These organs such as, for example, the distributor, the mixer drain hatch and that of its feed hopper are for this purpose controlled by electro-pneumatic cylinders.

 The characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly on reading the following detailed description of a concrete embodiment example, chosen to illustrate the fundamental concepts of the invention but in no way limitative of its numerous variant embodiments and application.

 This description refers to the attached drawing illustrating by a schematic view the operation of a machine for manufacturing compound feed.

 On the left side of the drawing is shown the weighing-dosing station P1 of such a machine comprising a weighing bucket 1 provided with a reading dial la and at its base with an extraction screw lb intended to evacuate the products weighed and dosed by the bucket 1 to a bucket 2a of an elevator 2. The cereals to be ground (wheat, corn, etc ...) are generally processed by this weighing bucket 1 while the mineral compounds (nitrogen) are stokes in another bucket 3 which feeds the interior of the bucket 2a by means of an extraction screw 3a. It goes without saying that the presence of the bucket 3 is optional since the cereals to be ground and the mineral compounds can be weighed and metered alternately by the bucket 1. In order to clarify the understanding of the functional diagram of this machine, the path followed by the cereals to be ground is illustrated by black arrows, that of the mineral compounds by white arrows, that of the crushed cereals, by discontinuous black arrows and that of the mixture of crushed cereals and mineral compounds by mixed white and black arrows.

 When one of the products is lifted by the conveyor 2 to a reserve 2b, a distributor 4 constituted by a two-way boot which can be operated by means of an electropneumatic jack not shown makes it possible to orient this product either towards the hopper 5a from a hammer mill 5 in the case of cereals or directly to a mixer 6 in the case of mineral compounds.

 The hopper 5a is equipped with a capacitive probe which allows when it is full of cereals to stop the operation of the extraction screw lb of the station P1 which will return to service automatically. The cereals are then introduced into the mill 5 by means of a feed vibrator 5b.

 At the outlet of the mill 5, the ground cereals are transported to a hopper 6a on standby on the mixer 6, by means of a pneumatic circuit 7 comprising - an air intake (arrow A), the opening of which can be closed by the operation of a shutter 7a, - an ascent pipe 7b, - a suction fan 7c, - a cyclone 7d for separating the air from the ground cereals, - an air lock 7e enabling the cereals to be taken up under cyclone 7d avoiding the air to be sucked in from below, - two filtering sleeves 7f for decompression, - and a recovery screw 79 for the cereals crushed under the lock 7e.

 A drain trap 6b arranged at the base of the hopper 6a ensures the introduction of the cereals into the mixer 6. It is controlled by an electro-pneumatic cylinder according to information received by a capacitive probe placed inside the hopper 6a .

 Another emptying hatch 6c placed at the base of the mixer 6 and also controlled by an electro-pneumatic cylinder makes it possible to release the mixed products which will be recovered by the bucket 8a of an elevator 8 to be raised to a reserve 8b. These products or compound feeds are then sent to a cell 9 of a bagging station P2.

 This cell 9 equipped with a probe allowing the filling control leads to a bagging machine 10. The bags S filled in quantities determined by the latter can then be automatically closed by a sewing machine 11 before being evacuated by a carriage 12.

 The chassis of this machine, which has not been shown in this drawing to avoid any confusion with the operating mechanism, can take any of the various appropriate forms, since it constitutes a support mechanism for all the components of it. this.

 It is obvious that numerous modifications and variants of the invention can be carried out based on the teachings given above. It is therefore understood, of course, that, without departing from the scope of the appended claims, the invention can be implemented in a manner different from that more particularly described above.

 The machine for making compound feedingstuffs, described above, is delivered fully wired and is easily transportable for export because it can be contained in a reduced volume (33m3).

 In addition, the assembly of its components on the chassis being effected by means of quick-fastening plugs, assembly and disassembly operations can be carried out in record time (one day) by unskilled labor.

Claims (9)

 1. Machine for the manufacture of compound feed, CHARACTERIZED BY THE FACT THAT it consists of a compact unit comprising a chassis on which are mounted in combination  - a weighing-dosing station,  - a grinder,  - a mixer,  - and a bagging station.  2. Machine according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED BY THE FACT THAT the distribution of food products in the hoppers of the crusher and the mixer is ensured selectively by a two-way distributor disposed at the outlet of the weighing-dosing station.  3. Machine according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED BY THE FACT THAT the bagging station is connected to the mixer outlet.  4. Machine according to claims and 2, CHARACTERIZED BY THE FACT THAT the products leaving the mill are directed to the hopper waiting on the mixer.  5. Machine according to claim 2, CHARACTERIZED BY THE FACT THAT the food products treated by the weighing-dosing station are led to the entrance of the aforementioned distributor by means of a bucket elevator.  6. Machine according to claim 3, CHARACTERIZED BY THE FACT THAT the composite products leaving the mixer are brought up to the bagging station by means of a recovery elevator.  7. Machine according to claim 4, CHARACTERIZED BY THE FACT THAT the products leaving the mill are returned to the hopper on standby mixer by means of a pneumatic circuit.  8. Machine according to claims 1 to 7 taken together, CHARACTERIZED BY THE FACT THAT the distributor, the mixer drain hatch, and that of its feed hopper are controlled by electro-pneumatic cylinders.  9. Machine according to claims 1 to 8 taken together, CHARACTERIZED BY THE FACT THAT its operation is automated by means of a programmed central unit, according to information received in particular by capacitive probes placed in the above-mentioned hoppers, to trigger the selective commissioning of the various organs.